Thursday, May 09, 2013

Vampires, She-Devils, and Holmes. Oh My!

As we know, I am a sucker for a crossover. Thus I had watched the
various issues of Dynamite's Prophecy slide by, thinking perhaps I'd
pick up the inevitable trade when the cross company crossover
mini-series completed. So last night I took the plunge.
I enjoyed the story quite a bit. You'll see why in a moment, I think.
It begins with Sherlock Holmes looking in to a mysterious death at the
British Museum. Well heck, I mean it's Holmes, so that's a plus right
there. Then it leaps to the scene of a Mayan human sacrifice ritual
being performed by Kulan Gath. Gath is, of course the creation of
Michael Moorcock, James Cawthorn, and Roy Thomas and first appeared in
the legendary Conan/Elric crossover back in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian
issues 14 and 15. Gath went on to fight Red Sonja, Spiderman, The
X-Men, and lord knows who else.
And who should show up to battle Gath in the Mayan city, but Red
Sonja. A double sword & sorcery connection. How did Sonja and Gath
end up in America in 632 A.D. ? That would be telling. Violence ensues
and we learn that Gath is planning to use the power created by the
Mayan's predicted end of the world to remake reality in his own image.
Sonja tries to stop him but he escapes into the time stream. She follows
and runs into Dracula and Vampirella. Well of course she does.
But wait! Then Herbert West shows up with his copy of the
Necronomicon. Yes, two creations of H.P. Lovecraft get into the action.
Okay let's review.

Yeah it's just nuts. And there are other surprise guest stars as
well. I'll leave you to discover them on your own. I had a lot of fun
with this crossover. Writer Ron Marz doesn't take events too seriously and the whole thing is a
big sword & sorcery, Cthulhu Mythos, Vampire, Sherlockian romp
through time with plenty of action. Artist Walter Geovani does a nice
job depicting the wide variety of characters, backgrounds, and
situations, though I didn't care for his version of Dr. Watson. That's a
small quibble though. All and all this is what comics should be. Good
art, a well told story, and lots of fun. (And yes, I will one day get
around to explaining how Kulan Gath was created by Moorcock, Cawthorn,
and Thomas. It's complicated but interesting.)

Worry not, Paul. That's one of those cover scenes that doesn't occur in the book. Sonja's reaction to being turned into a vampire is anything but submissive. If it has any major flaw it's that it has a big chunk in the middle which is some throwaway battle scenes that don't really move the story forward, but it's a comic book so people expect fights.